Rona Ambroze

John Baird set to be Tories’ ‘green guy’

Canada’s latest environmental steward is a man with a reputation that is equal parts aggressive policy maker and partisan brawler.

John Baird, 37, was handed the Conservative government’s hottest potato on Thursday when he moved from his post at Treasury Board to the head of Environment Canada. He replaces the demure Rona Ambrose, and the contrast in political styles could not be sharper.

Baird was given the job of shepherding the massive Federal Accountability Act into law as the government’s first priority after winning last January’s election.

What Baird, a lifelong conservative political activist from Ottawa, does not have is any environmental track record to speak of.

The closest Baird came to an environmental portfolio was his stint as Ontario energy minister, when he was responsible for managing the troubled deregulation of the provincial electricity grid.